My Tropic Isle
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Casual readers who enjoy nature writing and travel literature
- Readers interested in island life and the scenery of Oceania
- English learners who want light reading to build a feel for the language
- Literature lovers interested in the tradition of early nature writing
Not a good fit for
- Fiction readers expecting tight plotting and strong dramatic conflict
- Readers who need systematic scientific data or ecological research material
- Readers who prefer Chinese and do not want to work through English originals
Reading tips
- Read piece by piece, one or two sections at a time; there is no need to push straight through from beginning to end.
- Use a map to locate the island as you read, strengthening the sense of place in the descriptions of geography and climate.
- Jot down details and word choices from the author's observations as material for English nature-writing practice.
- Read alongside similar nature essays to notice how different authors handle everyday observation.
About the publisher
Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.
Contents
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FAQ
Is this book a novel or a factual nature essay?
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Does this edition include notes or an introduction?
Comments
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About the author
Edmund James Banfield (E. J. Banfield, 1852–1923) was an English essayist best known for his writing on life in the tropical islands. Public information about him is limited, and few biographical details are recorded here. Judging from the four works of his held in the collection, Banfield observed and wrote about the natural scenery and daily life of tropical islands over many years. His representative works, My Tropic Isle, The Confessions of a Beachcomber, Tropic Days, and the Dutch translation Bekentenissen van een strandvonder: Het leven op mijn tropisch eiland, are mostly written in the first person, in an unhurried style with a naturalist's attention to detail, unfolding the particulars of coastal, woodland, and island life. Such writing partakes of both natural history and the personal essay, preserving a vivid portrait of tropical island life in the early twentieth century and retaining lasting value for readers of this kind of literature.
